


Just a noob

by Jay_Jung (BbSis)



Category: EXID (Band)
Genre: Ahn sisters as sisters, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Online Gaming, Diablo III - Freeform, F/F, Solji is oblivious, siblings interaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 04:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16110614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BbSis/pseuds/Jay_Jung
Summary: When Solji feels her brother is ignoring her because of an online game, Hyerin comes with a great idea: learn how to play the game, so they can play together.





	1. The idea

**Author's Note:**

> Something I thought about because of a post Hani made on her IG :p ( https://www.instagram.com/p/9TXOZrlrGa/ )
> 
> I really wanted to be faithfull to Diablo III, but as I researched, I found it would be hard to be because of the things I thought for this story. So the game is Diablo III, but with a couple of changes to make the plot flow.
> 
> This is a repost :D

“Jooseung-oppa! Let´s go out! There’s this new ice cream shop nearby, let’s go try it out!” Solji barged into her older brother’s room, just to find him looking at his computer screen, almost unblinking.

 

“I’m busy, Sol. Maybe later?” He answered without look at her. The girl pouted and tried again.

 

“I’m buying! You can get as much as you want!” She knew he couldn’t deny free food. She knew he loved when she was the one paying.

 

“Maybe another time. I need to finish this mission. It is giving a rare item as a reward.” After that, he shouted a couple of words she couldn’t understand and completely ignored her presence.

 

Solji huffed and stomped out of the room. It was the second week in a roll her brother rejected her invitation for sibling bonding. The two were close, but lately Jooseung is giving all his free time to that stupid game. He was always like that with something he wanted; got hyped for a week and then go back to accept her invitations, even invite her to do something. So she left him be for a week to start to invite him out again. So, in this officially third week she was getting frustrated. Instead of moping about her situation, she decided to go to the ice cream shop alone.

 

The shop was bright and colored, with table booths, reminding American’s 50’s style. The order should be taken at the table, so she sat at a discreet corner and took a look at the chart. The ice creams had funny names, so she decided upon a known name: banana split. After the waiter received her order, her eyes roamed and she noticed a jukebox. Maybe there is a known song, she thought. Solji stood up and headed to the machine, when she was approaching the entrance door, because the jukebox was on the opposite side of the seat she chose, it opened and two young girls walked in.

 

“Unnie is addicted again, Jjong.” One girl sighed. She had long brown-ish hair with bangs framing her face. She was holding the other girl’s arm.

 

“Why is it this time?” The girl with straight black hair asked, amused by her friend’s whining.

 

“Apparently there is a new expansion in the game, or there will be. I don’t really know, she is beta-testing. The point is, she is ignoring me completely.” She let go of the arm, and spun to face the girl, but hit Solji halfway, who was passing by at the same moment. “Sorry!” She immediately apologized.

 

“It’s okay!” She accepted without even look at who bumped into her.

 

“Ah! Solji-unnie!” The girl jumped onto Solji.

 

“Heeyeonnie!” Solji hugged Heeyeon, then looked at the other girl. “Jeonggie!”

 

“I see you came for a refreshing afternoon too, unnie!” Jeonghwa smiled, excited.

 

“Yes! Let’s sit together! I was just about to check that jukebox out!” The older girl pointed at her table and then to the machine. “Give me a minute!” And Solji rushed to the jukebox.

 

The three knew each other because they went to the same school. Solji was in her third year of high school, Heeyeon on her second, and Junghwa in her first. Solji and Heeyeon were close because they were in the same club, the singing club. On Heeyeon’s first year, she was assigned to a duo project with Solji, and they hit it off so well, creating a duo for real which even had a name. Jeonghwa, though, was in the dance club, but she was best friends with Heeyeon since childhood, and despite being in a club herself, she always managed to come and watch the rehearsals.

 

After choosing an Elvis song, Solji returned to the table only to see Jeonghwa whisper something on Heeyeon’s ear, making the girl blush. She smirked at the sight, She knew that there was something going on, but the girls vehemently denied every time they were questioned about it.

 

“So, your unnie is ignoring you again, Hani?” Solji cleared her throat and asked. The two looked at her while she sat in front of them.

 

“Yeah. Sometimes I hate that game!” Hani vented out.

 

“Yesterday night you loved it.” Jeonghwa commented, only to make her friend blush. Solji hid a smile.

 

“That’s not the case! She refused our invitation, even when we said it would be on us.” Hani ruffled her own bangs in frustration.

 

“It happened to me too!” Solji blurted out loudly. Her friends looked at her surprised.

 

"Jinja!?" The two asked in uni-tone. They knew how Solji's relationship with her brother was.

 

"This is the third week oppa is ignoring me." The older girl pouted. "I'm starting to hate this game." She sighed. The three looked at each other and laughed. Solji's order arrived right after and the group of friends changed topics.

 

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~~~

 

It was a short break in the singing club room and Solji was absentmindedly stretching when the door opened. Piercing eyes stared at her for a couple of seconds, then roamed away until they find who they wanted, completely ignoring her person and whatever weird position she was in. Solji didn't mind, she was used to the eyes owner's behavior.

 

"I'm heading home, Heeyeon-ah. Today is the last day and I still need to send the review. So, don't call until I leave the room, ok?" The owner of the strong gaze, a girl with long bangs combed sideways, announced with a somewhat husky voice, seeming bored with the world.

 

"Okay, Hyojin-unnie..." Hani sighed and pouted from where she was, laying on the floor with her head leaning on her friend's belly. With a straight expression, Hyojin closed the door and left school. "Again..." Hani sulked, shifting to her side. Almost immediately she heard a growl coming from her friend's tummy.

 

"Hungry already? Hyerin, you just ate before practice!" Solji reacted before Hani.

 

"Sorry, it's just that singing makes me hungry." The girl explained not feeling sorry at all. 

 

"Hyerin, let's go to that cake shop since I won't be able to play with unnie when I get home." Hani invited, sitting up. 

 

"Thanks for making me a second option, unnie." Hyerin pouted, patting her belly. "But since it's for food, I accept."

 

"Let's all go together." Solji intervened. "My brother will totally ignore me today too."

 

Though the invitation was for everyone in the club, in the end only Solji, Hani, Hyerin, and Jeonghwa went to the shop. Jeonghwa appeared after the rehearsal and tagged along. She and Hyerin were classmates, so there were no awkward atmosphere.

 

"Dumped by Hyojin-unnie again, Hani?" Jeonghwa asked amused, after their orders arrived. 

 

"Tell me about it..." The girl pouted and shoved a fork with a strawberry cake piece into her mouth. Jeonghwa giggled at her behavior.

 

"Hyojin-sunbae looks so scary." Hyerin commented eating another piece of cake. She was so eager to eat she ended up dirtying the corner of her mouth and the tip of her nose with glace.

 

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Hyerinnie!" Solji reprehended the young girl, and started to clean her dirty face. Hani and Jeonghwa laughed both at the remark and the cute scene in front of her.

 

"Okay, mama." Hyerin complied, yet with full mouth again, making all at the table laugh.

 

"Hyerin-ah, unnie may look tough, but she is an adorable cat inside." Hani started to explain. 

 

"Heeyeonnie, I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe. She ignores basically everyone, your friends included. Even me, who often go to your house to practice." Solji pointed out.

 

"She really isn't that bad. She is just shy, but she is a nice person." Jeonghwa reasoned. "Well, mostly when she is not bickering me." 

 

"Jeonghwa, she bickers you because you date her sister since your childhood." Solji jested, making the two mentioned girls choke and blush hard.

 

"Anni!" The two said at the same time. Hyerin seemed unaffected by the statement and its reaction.

 

"Just give up on denying already." Solji smirked. Oh, she loved to tease the girls about it. She earned another round of blushing.

 

"Ah! that's it!" Hyerin raised her voice, startling the other three.

 

"What?"

 

"Since they are ignoring you because of the game, why don't you start playing it too?" Hyerin raised her fork, trying to look smart. "So you can spend time with them in the game at least."

 

"I'm too lazy to learn that. Too many controls. Too many places to look at the same time." Hani complained.

 

"This you really are." Jeonghwa nodded, getting a piece of her cake. 

 

"Yah!" Hani hit Jeonghwa's arm, making everyone giggle.

 

"Hum, I'm not very much fan of online gaming, but if it's for some time with my brother, maybe I can make an exception..." Solji wondered.

 

"Unnie, online gaming is so confusing. At least the one Hyojin-unnie play is. What's the name of the one your brother plays?" Hani asked.

 

"Hum... Good question... I'll check it out when I get home." Solji sighed, realizing she knew nothing about the game she often complained about.

 

"Aish! How are you going to get the game like this? Ask him directly." Jeonghwa's tone was demanding.

 

"I want to surprise him!" Solji whined. "I want to go to him in a couple of days and ask him to play with me, so I need to learn it before-handed."

 

"I think Jeonghwa is right, umma." Hyerin said after swallowing a bite of her piece. "You should ask him to teach you. Wouldn't this be nice bonding time?"

 

"You may be right, but I want to surprise him. Like 'Hey, you left me aside for this, for so long that I even learned it!' type of surprise." Solji beamed with sparkling eyes.

 

"This sounds more like a revenge..." Hani commented, while Jeonghwa and Hyerin nodded.

 

"Surprise it is!" Solji insisted. The younger girls sighed and gave up on trying to convince her otherwise.

 


	2. Starting out

More than one hour later, the four girls headed home. Solji found herself in Jooseung's room, looking for anything that could look like a hint for the title of the game her brother was addicted to. The boy was at university at the time, or more like on his way home; so she didn't have much time until he arrives home. But she wasn't able to find a single clue, and time was extinguishing. She ruffed and stomped out of the room, frustrated, right on time to hear Jooseung entering the front door. Suddenly, she had an idea.

 

"Seunggie-oppa! Let's go out to eat!" Solji invited as soon as he took off his shoes.

 

"Maybe later, Sol. I have stuff to do." He declined, ruffling her hair.

 

"Oppa!" She whined with aegyo. "We never hangout anymore... I bet you're going to play that game again..." She followed him to his room.

 

"Don't be like this, Solji-ah!" Jooseung turned his computer on, the booting was actually fast. "I promise to go out with you as soon as I finish today's mission." He sat down on his chair, at his desk, and clicked on a 'D' icon on the desktop, ignoring the fact that his sister was attentively looking at the screen. The game loaded, and a couple of huge logos appeared before a huge 'Diablo III' smoothly appear on the screen. Solji took note and sighed.

 

"Okay, oppa. If you forget your promise, you will have to pay." She said before calmly rush to her own room and look for how to play this game called 'Diablo III'. 

 

She found it really quick, and started the procedure which wasn't really complicated. Solji found it at [battle.net](http://battle.net/), and used her brother's credit card to buy. Well, she did say he'd pay, didn't she? What would take long, she figured, would be the download time, as for the game was quite heavy.

 

While waiting, Solji logged in the pc version of the chat app to check who was online at that time. It happened that everyone was on, and she announced she had put her plan into action. She divided her attention between chatting and reading the game guide. Almost two hours later, she received the notification telling her the download had completed.

 

After another half an hour, the game was fully installed and operating. Choosing a character took her a bit of her time because she didn't know what kind of character she wanted to play with. Upon remembering her brother and how much she wanted to hit him sometimes, mostly because of that very same game, she decided to go for a Barbarian. When she was finally done with the class choosing, Solji chose the story mode; the game began and she was amazed by the opening video.

 

Even though Solji managed to read the game guide, she found out the practice was a lot tougher than the theory; it was her first online game in the pc after all. She managed to finish the first quest with a lot of effort and failing a couple of times. After a moment of thinking, Solji decided to leave her pride aside and ask for help on the global chatbox. Unfortunately for her, that day there was a lot of troll users online. A lot of mean jokes were made toward her, words she wouldn't even dream to say aloud were used. Ten minutes later, she was on the verge of crying when a private message popped up, drawing her attention.

 

"Yo! Don't mind those jerks. I'm gonna help u." It was from an user called Elly.

 

"Really?! Thank you!" Solji gulped her tears and tried not to scare the person away.

 

"Really :) Let's add each other as friends to make things easy. Let's do it in both ways." The user typed back.

 

"Both ways?" Is there more than one way to add as a friend?

 

"As characters and as users. This way I'll be able to find you faster with the other character I will make to accompany you." Elly explained. Solji wondered why the need of another character to help her, but then she looked at Elly's level and stated it was very high.

 

Elly explained how to add as a friend. She also asked Solji to install a chatting program that would let them call each other. She even shared a link to download it. Solji would do anything to please that stranger. She really wanted that help. After the program was installed and that Elly person was added, Elly initiated the voice chat.

 

To her surprise, on the other side of the line a slight deep feminine voice spoke.

 

"Hi." The voice was strange, yet familiar. But Solji couldn't figure from where. It's neutral tone helped on her nervousness. 

 

"Hello." Solji greeted back after a couple of seconds. Still, it was awkward.

 

"Are you ready? I will teach you everything I know, and help you out." Elly asked in a confident voice.

 

"Yes!" Solji replied with all her determination. She heard a small chuckle from the other girl.

 

At first, Solji was having issues in keep up with Elly, but after three struggled completed missions, the girl was starting to learn the way. Elly had incredibly a lot of patience, and always praised her when she did something right. She also happened to be quite a good teacher. She explained what Solji had to do and let the girl do the work herself; she was there being the support character. Solji learned relatively fast and after four more completed quests, it could be said that the girl was doing pretty good. They were kind of a good duo. 

 

The hours passed so fast that when Elly said it was getting late and she needed to go, Solji was actually surprised. She also had school the next day, and it was already 4 am! This would give her about three hours of sleep! The two bid goodbye to one another and rushed to bed.

 

A bit more than three hours later, Solji dragged her feet to her classroom. She was so sleepy she didn't notice a body approaching her from her front.

 

"Solji-unnie! Good morning!" Heeyeon's voice reached her ears and she finally looked up. Solji gave Hani a small smile.

 

"'Morning..." Solji half greeted her friend. But she just wanted to reach her desk and throw herself at it. 

 

"Unnie, what happened? You look so tired." Hani was really worried, hence she never saw the older woman in such a bad state.

 

"Nothing serious. I found someone to help me with that game, and we ended up staying up until very late." Solji explained groggily.

 

"Ah, that!" Hani giggled. "This is not healthy, and will give you dark circles. Hyojin-unnie stayed up until late as well. I left her at home because I didn't want to be late for class." Heeyeon patted Solji's back.

 

"I hope the first class won't be anything so important because I really need a nap." Solji sighed. "I just hope I don't do this again. I only slept for three hours! I feel like crap..." She whined. 

 

"Don't be like this, unnie. You will get used to that if you want to be on high level fast. It is for your fraternal bonding in the future." Hani pointed out.

 

"I don't want to get used to that!.." The older girl whined more.

 

Hani just laughed and hastened. "Let's go to class. The bell will ring soon." She gently pushed a pouting Solji towards her classroom. 

 

But Solji did exactly the opposite of what she wanted. Everyday after school and club activities, she headed straight home, did her homework, and turned her pc on to play. Usually, she'd wait for Elly to be online, but she started to feel comfortable to play a couple of stuff on her own. She actually enjoyed Elly's help, and soon the girl started to grow on her. When there was updating or maintenance on the game server, they'd call each other just to chat. In three weeks, Solji reached a level where she could hang out with Elly's main character without being a burden.

 

Meanwhile, her friends noticed her change. Solji barely hang out with them anymore. In the first week, Heeyeon was okay with it; but in the middle of the second week, she started to be all dramatic. Hyerin now regretted giving such a stupid idea to her umma-unnie; she obviously lost her partner in eating after school. Jeonghwa was finding everything amusing. She knew sooner or later Solji would stop being so addicted and would go back to go out with them after class.


	3. Did it work?

Finally it was about time to take her plan to the second part. When Solji told Elly about her reason to start playing, the girl laughed hard saying it was the dumbest motive ever. Solji pouted and whined, what made Elly laugh more. After the moment, Elly said she was willing to be a party with Solji and her brother if he ever accepts to play with her. It made Solji happy immediately as she cheered humming a song. That was one of Elly's traits, she reacted honestly to a situation and would often behave playful towards it. Solji kinda appreciated the mocking sincerity, which also made Elly one of the hardest players to deal with.

 

It was a saturday when Solji knocked on Jooseung's door. He allowed her in, and she stated he was already playing. She approached him looking at the screen, just to see his character in front of another, but the nick on its head was a known one. He typed frantically while grunting. Instead of asking him to play with her, Solji decided to go with another question.

 

"Anything wrong, oppa?" Jooseung grunted louder and almost hit the desk with his knuckles.

 

"Sorry about that, Sol." He sighed after a while. "I just got very irritated with this user."

 

"What happened?" Solji was really curious because the user was none other than Elly. And she actually liked her online friend. So, let this pass was out of question if she wanted to play with both Elly and Jooseung.

 

"This user is so full of herself!" Jooseung started angrily. "I get that she is a famous user, a beta tester, and one of the top 5 in the worldwide rank, but she has no right to tell me I suck in playing!" He vented out. This was actually something Elly would do, so what surprised Solji was one bit of information. She had already picked that Elly was sorta famous after almost a month playing together almost every day.

 

"But why she said that?" Elly was actually easy going, so her brother must have said something that pissed her off.

 

"I asked her to form a temporary party with me. I read in the forums that she took in a noob a couple of weeks ago and helped the person out. Today I found her in this city and asked her to make a party with me. Then, she started to ask me a lot of questions, and after I answered, she said I suck as a player. Then, I started to argue and she said I'm an idiot and blocked me." Jooseung explained very resented. Solji sighed. That sounded very Elly-like. And it felt like a good moment to tell him about her.

 

"Don't be like that, oppa." She patted him. "Leave this player be and party with me instead." He looked at her with incredulity. Jooseung couldn't believe his little sister played the game, since she never demonstrated to be interested in online gaming.

 

"Y... You play?" His shocked faced worthed all those sleepless nights.

 

"As a matter of fact, I do." She smiled triumphantly. "So, add me and I will happily play with you." Since he was still out of words, Solji leaned towards his keyboards, used the shortcut to friendlist, and added her account herself. He was looking between her and the screen still really unsure of everything. "I'll go back to my room so we can play." Solji cheerfully added before return to her room.

 

Once she sat back in front of her own pc, she returned to her call with Elly. The girl was a bit grumpy now, she noticed.

 

"Hey, Elly, you don't have to play with us today, or even anymore if you want." Solji said in a casual tone.

 

"Hey, why's that? Don't want me ruining your sibling bonding time?" Elly teased a little and Solji giggled.

 

"No. It's just that the idiot you just argued with is my brother." Solji answered with no resentment. She heard Elly gasp.

 

"Oh my! I'm sorry! I didn't know..." Elly replied as fast as she could. She was really surprised by that coincidence.

 

"It's okay, really. He can be an idiot sometimes." Solji tranquilized her. "I don't know what he said to you, and vice-versa, but he probably deserved." She explained shortly.

 

"Still, I was also rude..."

 

"Don't worry. I will play with him today. And if you're still willing to play with us, even with him sucking at playing, you are welcome anytime. Ok?" Solji's tone was motherly even.

 

"Okay..." Elly sighed.

 

"Talk with you later, okay?"

 

"Ok."

 

Solji then hung up and accepted her brother's friend request. The siblings started a co-op for a couple of missions. The girl stated that Jooseung indeed doesn't play very well. Since the two were in the same house, they screamed commands to one another. They were both tankers, and Solji was playing better than him; and he noticed that. When they decided to stop playing, it was actually their mother's order because she couldn't stand her children screaming for each other anymore, he appeared on her room.

 

"Solji-ah! When you learned to play like that?! Heck! I didn't even knew you played?" Jooseung was all demanding. The girl just giggled and shrugged.

 

"Well, you've been neglecting me a lot lately, so I had to do something about it. Now we can play together!" Solji happily answered him. He still looked dumbfounded. "About how I learned to play like this..." She couldn't finish her sentence because a chat window popped up. It was Elly starting a conversation. Jooseung looked at it and his eyes widened.

 

"You are that noob player! You know her all this time!" He nearly shouted at her. "Why you didn't tell me, Solji? Why you didn't come to me for help?! I would gladly help you!" He sounded really resented. 

 

"I'm sorry, oppa. I just wanted to surprise you." She whined. She wasn't expecting this reaction.

 

"Well, I am surprised!" He retorted.

 

"Oppa, go cool down a bit, yes? We can't chat properly now because you are jealous." Solji said in an amused tone.

 

"I'm not jealous!" He protested.

 

"Yes, you are. Because I didn't ask you for help. And because I am friends with that famous player." Solji reasoned. And he was dumbfounded again, yet he couldn't deny she was right. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, and then left the room without saying a word. The girl laughed at her brother's reaction.

 

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

 

Solji was once again stretching in the singing club's room on their break when she hear the door opening. She didn't mind she was in a weird position again and just kept exercising. 

 

"Unnie!" Heeyeon's voice echoed happily. Solji looked up and saw Hyojin at the door. "What's up?!" She was laying on the floor, with the head leaned on Jeonghwa's legs.

 

"Don't you have rehearsal, kid?" Hyojin asked seriously, looking at Jeonghwa.

 

"It finished early." The maknae shrugged. "What about you?"

 

"I have nothing better to do, so I came here to annoy my dongsaeng." She answered teasingly looking at Hani. "Do you mind if I watch, Heo Solji-ssi?" Hyojin asked casually, turning her gaze to the mentioned girl. Solji almost lost her balance. Well, she was the club's president, it made sense Hyojin was asking her permission.

 

Solji straightened herself before answer. "I don't see why not." She maintained her composure. Heeyeon giggled and whispered something to Jeonghwa, who smirked. Solji was too surprised that Hyojin knew her name to notice; but the other girl noticed, and glared at the couple on the floor.

 

"Solji-unnie, you remember you're going to my house to practice, right?" Heeyeon asked amused. She noticed how her sister fidgeted at this new piece of information.

 

"Dae! I already informed my mom." Solji answered happily. With that the rehearsal restarted and Hyojin set herself at the far back of the room. 

 

At the end of the club activities, the four girls went to the Ahn residence. Solji and the two younger ones chatted happily along the way while Hyojin remained silent. Once they arrived, Hyojin went straight to her room. Solji, Heeyeon, and Jeonghwa stayed at the living room as they had never ending subjects to talk about. Hani once again apologized for her sister's behavior; Solji just brushed it off, she was used to it anyways. The two decided to begin their practice and started doing the vocal warm up exercises. While the duo was distracted, Jeonghwa sneakily took Hani's bag to the girl's room. When she was returning to the living room, she noticed  that Hyojin's door wasn't fully closed, making her smirk.

 

Jeonghwa watched the practice and even suggested some simple dance steps to add more emotion to the song. Mrs. Ahn prepared some snacks to the girls and for the 'nth' time stated how much she liked to hear the two girls singing. The two thanked with a smile, and when they repositioned themselves to restart singing, the woman asked Hani and Junghwa to go to the nearby bakery and buy bread. When the two girls left, mrs. Ahn turned to Solji and asked her to go call Hyojin, because she herself needed to finish a couple of things at the kitchen. Nodding, the girl walked towards the corridor.

 

Solji knew where Hyojin's room was; it was the door in front of Hani's. She sometimes spotted the other girl coming in and out of the door. The two were on the same grade, but in different classes. She wondered what happened today that made Hyojin want to watch their practice. When Solji noticed, she was already in front of the girl's door. It was closed, so she sighed, and knocked.

 

The older girl heard a faint 'come in', and without thinking twice, she opened the door. But she wasn't prepared for the sight that greeted her. Hyojin was standing in front of the bed, with the back facing the door, wearing a tiny black short, and dressing a shirt, which was still on her shoulders, when Solji walked in. Her hair was wet, indicating that Hyojin was freshly out of the bath. Solji didn't know where to look at, but she couldn't take her eyes off of the girl in front of her. Those long creamy legs, the slim curved back and thin waist...

 

"Whassup, Hee...?!!" Hyojin turned while pulling down the blouse, thinking it was her sister. But she was wrong. "Solji-ssi." She was really surprised, but the moment she saw the other girl's expression, she managed to hide her true feelings.

 

"Ah... Erm..." Solji's mind turned blank. For her, the moment Hyojin turned lasted a century. She spotted every muscle contraction, it was so enticing. Her belly was as charming as her back; she had soft abs, and, wow, a bellybutton piercing! Who knew?! It was so unexpected! "Ahem! Your mother is calling for a snack..." Solji didn't wait for a reply, she turned her heels fled to the living room. Her heart was bumping like crazy. She placed a hand over her chest trying to calm herself. What the heck was that?! Since when she reacts like this to a girl exchanging clothes?

 

Back to the living room, Solji sat at the couch, staring at the void. She didn't notice when Heeyeon and Jeonghwa returned, leaving a track of freshly baked bread around the house. Solji was taken back from her thoughts of creamy legs, muscled back, soft toned abs with that tiny sparkle when mrs. Ahn called once again to eat. She was strangely silent that evening; and the two younger ones noticed that.


	4. Final

 

When Solji arrived home, she told her mother she ate at the Ahn's, ignored her brother's attempts to talk to her, and locked herself in her room. She did her homework, despite knowing most of it might be wrong due to her lack of attention, and finally turned on her computer.

 

She wanted to talk about 'it' with someone. Elly was the one she thought first, the one who didn't know the involved ones, and even if she laughs at her for it, her honest advices would come in handy. She logged in both the game and the chatting program she used with Elly. She was already online and Solji called her, not paying attention if she could answer or not.

 

"Yo~ I thought you wouldn't play today, Choco." Elly answered a bit surprised. Ch0c0_o11o was Solji's player name.

 

"Yeah. I need to distract myself. Want to co-op?" Solji asked less happy than usual. Elly noticed, but left it aside from the time being.

 

"Sure. I just finished a mission. Pick anything you want." She agreed. Solji picked a mission on Nightmare 3 level.

 

She was more than capable of handle the quest, but with her mind on slim backs and sexy legs, she ended up making a lot of mistakes. When they finally managed to complete it, Elly was extremely curious and didn't hold back.

 

"Choco, is there something troubling you?" She was honestly concerned. Solji sighed.

 

"Something happened today and the scene can't get out of my mind." She was actually surprised that the other girl was genuinely worried about her, it warmed her heart; which left her even more confused. "Just promise me to hold back on the jokes, ok?"

 

"I can't promise anything, but please tell me." Elly tried to not start laughing already. "I will do my best to help you."  

 

"Aish... Well, I went to practice singing at my friend's house. She has an older sister about my age. This sister doesn't talk much, at least to me, and is not very sociable, yet she seems very playful towards her sis and their childhood friend." Solji started. Elly just hummed from time to time. "Anyways, her mother asked me to go call her, so I went and I found her changing clothes. Or wearing a set of clothes..."

 

"So? That's all? There's nothing wrong with it." Elly was uncommonly very serious.

 

"I can't take the image of her body out of my mind! I never expected her body to be that sexy! She has muscles! Toned abs and legs! She even has a belly button piercing!" Solji breathed out, almost dreamily.

 

"And you noticed this out just in a span of a few seconds? You sound like a teenager in love. Oh wait! You are a teenager!" Elly joked, but there something strange with her tone.

 

"Me? In love with a girl? Impossible! I have a guy I like!" Solji protested. "Wait, you don't mind about girls dating girls?!"

 

Elly laughed. It was nervous laugh, not that Solji would notice it. She was too focused on her own problem to notice how different Elly was acting. "Of course not! My own sister dates a girl, though she thinks I don't know."

 

"Really?!" Solji was perplexed. They actually never talked about this subject before.

 

"Yeah... What about you? What do you think of girls liking girls? I mean, you seem quite disturbed with the possibility of liking a girl." Elly asked trying to sound causal. 

 

"I have nothing against it!" Solji felt offended somehow. "I have two friends that date each other, and I support them!"

 

"How about the next time you see this guy you like, you try to look at him the way you looked at your friend's sister?" Elly suggested. She wasn't acting playful since this conversation started.

 

"That sounds a good idea. I will see him tomorrow!" Solji thought it was a good idea to put her thoughts in order.

 

After the talk, they started another co-op and Solji was feeling a lot better. Both of them went to sleep early and with a lot going on their minds that night.

 

-~-~-

 

The next day, and on the following weeks, on break time Solji would look for the said guy she had a crush on. Kim Soo Hyun was his name. But it only made Solji more confused. She never realized that Ahn Hyojin and him were friends. The two were together every break, very friendly with each other, they even played basketball together. She said she was there to look at him but in reality she wasn't able to stop looking at her. On how she was over-friendly with him; the way she smiled, yes she knew how to smile, and Solji found it very charming; how she got all sweaty after a basketball match; how her bellybutton piercing would shine every time her t-shirt lifted when she jumped to reach the basket. Solji sighed. Yeah, she was lost and Elly was right. What to do now?

 

It became a habit of Hyojin to go watch the singing club rehearsal, much to Solji's despair. At the same time, the girl was secretly happy because she could be in the presence of the girl who was taking away her already few hours of sleep. Besides, it was a good way to train her nervousness's control; because every time Hyojin was there, Solji would be nervous as heck.

 

In one of those days, after the singing club practice, Hyerin, who got used to the once intimidating girl, invited them to the cake store. In the end, the same group of girls, plus Hyojin, were taking a seat on the pastry shop. Solji entered the booth first, taking the seat near the window; Hyerin sat beside her, and Hyojin at the end of the row seat. Heeyeon and Jeonghwa sat in front of them.

 

Soon the waitress appeared to take their orders. After a while, the girls started to chat again while waiting their delicious food. The group always had random topics and were always laughing. Even Hyojin learned to relax and enjoy their company. In the end, they had to order a mini pie because everyone wanted the same flavour; when the food arrived, they were served each a piece of the cake.

 

"I'm so happy you are hanging out with us more often again, mama!" Hyerin sighed, placing a cake piece in her mouth.

 

"I'm sorry I've been neglecting you lately. You know, oppa is really enjoying to play with, though he was really mad when he found out I used his credit card to buy the game..." Solji whined at last part. 

 

"It's okay, you're here now." Hyerin replied with mouth full of food. She was having another piece and dirtied her cheek with icing.

 

"How many times do I have to tell you to not speak with your mouth full?" Solji reprehended cleaning the girl's cheek. "You might choke. Besides, it's impolite." Hyerin opened her mouth to protest, but started to cough almost immediately.

 

"Here, drink." Hyojin said handing the coughing girl her glass of iced tea, while soothing her gently caressing her back. Solji automatically did the same gesture and their hands touched, making her blush slightly. Giggles were heard from the other side of the table.

 

"What?" Solji and Hyojin asked simultaneously to Heeyeon and Jeonghwa, who were now smirking. Hyerin was drinking dry Hyojin's iced tea.

 

"You three look like a little happy family." Hani answered. The two of them were ready to protest, but Jeonghwa cut her.

 

"Mama," She pointed at Solji. "daughter," She pointed at Hyerin. "And papa." She pointed at Hyojin.

 

"This is nonsense!" Solji slammed her hands on the table. It was really close to her cup of juice and it ended up turning and spilling it's content on the table. The juice easily spread to the edge and dripped on Solji's lap. She sighed frustrated. "Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom."

 

Without saying a word, Hyojin stood up, followed by Hyerin. Solji focus was on her clothes, so she didn't notice worried eyes on her. She rushed to the restroom to hide her blush more than anything else. With a paper towel she cleaned herself, sighing and cursing her recklessness. Once her clothes were dry, she looked at herself and fixed her appearance. When she left the restroom Hyojin was still standing near their table, waiting for her. Solji rushed her steps, she just wanted to forget everything. 

 

Solji was so focused on not look at Hyojin she failed to notice a big puddle on the floor. Well, while she was away, a waitress lost her balance and dropped her tray of cups of soda; at the moment, she went to pick the cleaning material. When she finally noticed, it was really late. Her feet slipped on the liquid, making her slide forward. Solji shut close her eyes sure she was going to fall full faced on the floor when her dive came to a halt by a firm grip. A nice flowery smell invaded her senses, making her heartbeat increase even more. She opened her eyes fully aware of whose arms she was within. Hyojin’s usually fierce eyes were full of worry and something else Solji couldn’t identify. The older girl stood there, lost in the gaze of the person she was desperately crushing on.

 

“Are you ok?” Hyojin’s voice took her out of her trance. Solji blinked a couple of times before softly get out of the girl’s gentle yet firm grip.

 

“”Y... Yeah. Thanks for catching me.” Solji was still a bit shaky. Then it stroke her what would have happened to her if Hyojin didn’t catch her and she blushed furiously. “Aish! So embarrassing!” She hid her face behind her hands to cover her blush.

 

“Omo.” Hyojin was surprised by this reaction, but found it cute nonetheless. She placed both hands on each of Solji’s shoulders and chuckled. “Don’t worry, I bet no one saw it.” After saying this, she looked around to make sure people were looking elsewhere. Then she squeezed it lightly to reassure what was a blatant lie. Surprisingly, it calmed Solji down and the fact that no one was looking when she uncovered her face helped as well.

 

 

The other three friends were surprised by the little interaction and looked at each other with questioning eyes, though Hani and Jeonghwa didn't seem clueless as Hyerin. Still a bit embarrassed, Solji thanked Hyojin with a nod and went to sit near Hyerin. The said girl just slipped to the seat which once was Solji's, on the far corner. The three younger girls started to chat among themselves while Solji busy herself with was was left of her slice of cake. Hyojin silently sat beside her. Sensing Solji still a bit apprehensive towards the happening, Hyojin placed a hand right above her knee and squeezed it lightly with a reassuring smile on the corner if her lips. At first the older girl was surprised by the touch, and felt a different kind of embarrassment she must admit, but when she saw the other girl's expression, she surprisingly found it relaxing. Hyojin collected her hand afterwards. The chatting of the younger girls were extended to the older ones and soon everything was forgotten.

 

~-~-~

 

Once Solji was back at home, she felt in cloud nine. After fast finish her homework, Solji logged in Diablo III hoping to find Elly online. She wasn't, much to Solji's dismay. She decided to do the daily quests while waiting. She was on the third quest when the game warned her that her favorite internet friend was online. Elly called her and they did a couple of quests together.

 

"I have the answer for your question, Elly." Solji said while they were taking a break.

 

"My question?" Elly sounded confused.

 

"About my problem, remember? Of whom I really like?" Solji reminded her.

 

"Ah! That." She exaggerated on the reaction. "Shoot"

 

"I... I'm sure now I like my friend's sister. I've been noticing she is not what I thought she was and today she helped me. She was nice and gentle." Solji said in a dreamy voice. "I can't believe I never noticed she is friends with the guy I had a crush on before!" Elly laughed, and Solji was too distracted daydreaming to notice it was different from usual. It was a mix of relief, nervousness and happiness.

 

"Maybe you didn't see her cuz you're too focused on him? I don't know, perhaps you cheered on him too loud? You know you're loud, right?" Elly suggested in a knowing tone.

 

"Yah!" Solji reprehended her. "Yeah, I know I'm loud." And the two of them laughed.

 

"And what are you going to do about it now that you're sure?" Elly asked once the laugh died down.

 

"I don't know. I don't think she likes girls, and if she does, I don't think she would be interested in me." Solji sighed.

 

"Why not? This is nonsense. Your pretty voice must come with a beautiful face. I'm sure of it!" Elly said in an assurance. "Besides, if you have a beautiful face or not, it doesn't matter because you have a beautiful personality." Upon hearing such nice words Solji's eyes filled with tears, and she suppressed a sob. "What's this? Are you crying? Don't cry."

 

"Thanks..." She didn't know what else to say.

 

"Such a crybaby.... Stop crying and consider confessing, if she is a nice person, she won't hurt your feelings." Elly encouraged. "Now, let's kill some demons!" Elly demanded making a funny voice, earning a laugh from the other girl.

 

-~-~-~-

 

Solji arrived early on the singing club room and prepared herself to do some stretching. She put her bag on the usual place, grabbed the mattress on the usual spot, and started with a simple exercise. As her body was warming up, she could do more elaborated movements. Solji was in an intricate and rather embarrassing pose when she heard a knock on the door, followed by it being opened. It was still relatively early for the members to arrive, so she wondered who could be, but didn't bother to change poses. A couple of seconds later she heard Hyojin's voice.

 

"Hello, excuse me." She was polite with casual tone while peeking inside. When her eyes met with Solji's, who was somehow lopsided, she immediately saw the girl dismount of her position. Hyojin rushed in to her aid. 

 

Usually, Solji could sustain her pose, but ever since she started crushing on Hyojin day by day, the task was becoming impossible. It wasn't her first time doing that position, yet she felt her entire body melt when she spotted Hyojin. The next thing she remembered was the ceiling. Hyojin entered on her sight with a worried expression.

 

"Are you alright, Solji?" She asked touching Solji's hand. The other seemed too stunned to react, so she tightened the grip on the hand. "Solji?"

 

Solji heard her name being called in a soft manner she thought it did not match with the face she was seeing, even though it made her heartbeat increase. She would tell it was a dream if it wasn't for the tightening grip on her hand.

 

"I'm ok." Solji finally had come to her senses. She carefully sat up. "I don't think I broke anything." Hyojin was still holding her hand.

 

"Good. I wouldn't forgive myself if something bad happened because of me." Hyojin smiled sweetly, obviously relieved. Solji blushed but couldn't stop looking at her. Hyojin then reached out her other hand and put a disheveled hair strand behind her ear. They were awfully close.

 

"Hyojin," Solji felt that perhaps it was time for that. Hyojin looked at her intensely. "Hyojin, I... I think I... l..."

 

"Unnie! Sorry we're late!" The door barged open and entered a screaming Hyerin followed by Hani, Jeonghwa and a couple of other members. Only then the girl noticed the proximity of the two other girls. "Eh! Were you two doing funny things?" Hyerin asked smirking. She wasn't as innocent as she seemed to be. Hyojin and Solji rushed to let go of each other. Hyojin stood up.

 

"What funny things? Hyojin was only helping me out." Solji was obviously embarrassed. Internally, she was cursing the bad timing of the other members.

 

"Yes, Solji was looking like a yarn ball after being played by a kitty." Hyojin smirked and reached out a hand to Solji, who glared at her but accepted the help offer. Then, she pulled Solji up, with more strength than the other girl expected.

 

After this, the rehearsal was normal. Jeonghwa and Hyojin watched everything as per usual, and the group of five walked themselves home afterwards.

 

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

 

The presentation day was approaching and the duo was feeling the need to rehearse more. They finally mastered the choreography Jeonghwa thought for them. They just needed to sync the vocals and the steps. So, once again, after school hours, five girls headed to the Ahn residence. Hyerin tagged along this time and she was walking between her papa and mama, as she started to call Hyojin after the incident at the cake shop. Hyerin was holding hands with Solji and Hyojin as they happily talked about something random together with Heeyeon and Jeonghwa.

 

When they arrived, Hyojin went straight to her room. Ever since she started to hang out with the other girls, she used to stay in the living room with everybody and watch the rehearsal, but this time she said she had errands to do in her room. She was somewhat secretive of what those errands were but no one pushed her. 

 

Mrs. Ahn appeared with snacks later, when they had a break. The older woman spazzed over her daughter and her talented friends again. She said Hyerin could also join Heeyeon and Solji because also sang pretty well and had a nice voice. Everyone laughed and the girl blushed. After a chatting time, the mother prepared a tray with a sandwich and a cup of juice, and Solji thought the super hero themed cup was funny. Because she laughed, mrs. Ahn made her take the food to Hyojin at her room. Still laughing, Solji headed to the room, mentally hoping that Hyojin was fully dressed this time.

 

As she approached the room, Solji noticed that the door was slightly open. She didn't bother to knock and pushed the door open with her hips, since her both hands were full. She stepped into the room carefully, looking where she should places her feet since she knew Hyojin was messy sometimes.

 

"Hyojin, take a break to," Solji finally looked up and saw what the other girl was on the computer; she immediately recognized something, and didn't like it one bit. "eat..." It also startled her, making her drop the tray on the floor.

 

"S... Solji...!" Hyojin was surprised but it was late to close or minimize the window. She would have to face whatever wrath Solji had in store for her.

 

Solji approached the screen to make sure she didn't see wrong, ignoring the mess she did. The screen displayed a game very known to her, despite she couldn't recognize the dungeon. The mission was now lost and the character that appeared on continue screen was awfully familiar. Would Elly player want to continue? Elly!

 

Solji looked coldly at Hyojin and growled "Explain."

 

"Huh..." Hyojin was paralyzed. She never saw Solji that way before.

 

"It's you, isn't it?"" Solji asked in a raspy voice. She was having a wave of mixed feelings. She was surprised with the discovery; she never expected to find that character there. Her heart was breaking because of who it was; angry, she was really angry. Dumb-faced Hyojin there seemed to be her online friend Elly.

    

Hyojin's mouth opened and closed before any sound could come out of it. "Huh. Yes..." She lowered her gaze, feeling a guilty she never felt before.

 

"And you knew it was me all this time?" Solji felt a notch on her throat.

 

"Not in the beginning..." Before she could continue, Solji interrupted.

 

"But you knew!" She raised her voice. "How could you?! I trusted in you! I told you my secret and you fooled me! You knew all this time I like you, and you said nothing! Were you having fun with my feelings?! I hope you had because I don't want talk to you ever again!" Her speech finished with tears falling from her eyes. Solji dried them with the back of her hands and stormed out of the room, failing to see the desolated expression on Hyojin's face.

 

Solji also failed to notice they had audience by the door. Mrs. Ahn, Heeyeon, Hyerin and Jeonghwa rushed to see if everything was alright after they heard a loud sound. They witnessed everything. Solji grabbed her school bag and left the house without saying goodbye.

 

Upon arriving home, Solji went straight to her room. She ignored her homework, and later, her brother asking her to play with him. The next day, she alleged sickness to miss school. The girls called her but she just turned off her phone. When she returned to school, she deliberately ignored Hyojin. When questioned about what happened, Solji refused to talk about whatever it was. She asked Hani to rehearse at her house instead of the Ahn residence, in which the girl agreed.

 

Heeyeon was really apprehensive since the day Solji left her house in a hurry with teary eyes. She witnessed what happened in her sister's room, but she pretended didn't know. Even so, Hyojin wouldn't tell her, she asked. Solji-unnie was really pissed with her sister. She had a really good heart and was very forgiven, but was very stubborn ignoring Hyojin this time. Her sister seemed to be really sad as well. One day she screamed at her "Yah! Fix this mess. I want my unnies back!".

 

After two weeks of the sort of hide and seek game, Solji went to the club room to pick up a thing she had forgotten there on the previous day. Not too long after, the girl heard the door click closing. Upon turning, she found a gloomy Hyojin leaned on the door.

 

"Solji, we need to talk." Hyojin said in a low tone. The other girl gulped. 

 

"There's nothing to talk about. You lied to me and I can't forgive lies." Solji said dryly. 

 

"Yes, there is." Hyojin insisted, approaching Solji.  "You ran away without letting me explain a thing." She started softly; Solji gave one step backward.

 

"Were you having fun? Did you intend to tell me it was you? Gosh, you even encouraged me to confess." Solji was visibly frustrated. 

 

"Yes, I was just waiting for the right moment. I wasn't expecting you to find you this soon..." Hyojin looked sideways.

 

"This soon... What?!..." Solji was really surprised by Hyojin's behavior. 

 

"Please, come back to the game. Please, don't ignore me." Hyojin pleaded, approaching the other girl until it became uncomfortably close. Before Solji could protest because of the absurdity of the request, Hyojin continued. "When the right time comes, you will have your answers. Believe me." The sincerity in her eyes made Solji stop. She felt a warmth on her lips, but only processed what happened when she heard the door hit close and she found herself alone in the club's room.

 

Solji thought it was a dream. All this talk about right moments, Hyojin asking her to go back to the game and wait. She had to admit she missed playing. But the warmth on her lips felt so real. She liked Hyojin this much to the point of hallucinate with her light kissing her lips? The girl shook her head and ran back home, forgetting whatever she went to retrieve once again.

 

On the following weeks Hyojin missed school; Solji noticed. The older girl was adamant in asking Hani why her sister was absent. Mostly because she wasn't ready to talk about what happened. And to her relief her friends weren't asking either. Sometimes she heard Hani complaining she was worried about her sister. So she got worried as well thinking it was her fault. At home, Solji returned to play the game with her brother, but she didn't login in the chatting program she used with Elly. She didn't even pay attention if the ace player was online.

 

It was around the third week of Hyojin's absence when Solji received an email telling her Elly had sent her a gift. She wondered if it was a joke, but opened the notification. It was just the game's expansion pack, scheduled to be launched on the following weekend. Her brother was hyped about it, but ever since she stopped talking to Elly, the game lost a bit of its spark. She pondered if she should accept it, but once she told her brother about it, he encouraged her to do so. It was a gift after all.

 

When the weekend came, Solji found herself in front of her computer waiting for the expansion to download. It took a while because the file was very large. After half an hour, her Jooseung shouted about join him in a party, but her download wasn't done yet. It was suspicious really. Why her file was larger than her brother's? The lack of reply made Jooseung come to his sister's room to check if everything was alright. The download finished and whatever it was, run automatically.

 

Solji was about to curse Elly and Hyojin when she heard a different melody coming from her earphones. Beautiful letters appeared on screen and Solji read, forgetting the entire world.

 

_"There was once an arcanist. She used to roam from villa to villa. She liked to be on her own most of the time and her friends respected that. But one day, she spotted an enticing barbarian. This barbarian was  witty and had loud voice. The arcanist only observed from afar, never daring to get closer or start a conversation."_

 

The letters were forming along with an animation featuring Elly's character, and later hers.

 

_"How surprising it was when the same barbarian started to  hangout  with the acanist's younger sister. Even with this opportunity, the arcanist kept her distance. Always making sure to look unapproachable. One day, the arcanist helped a barbarian in need, and they formed a friendship. What they didn't know at the time was that they knew each other. They both looked so different... But in a certain night, the barbarian made a confession that shocked the arcanist: she was attracted to her friend's sister. By the description, it was the arcanist herself in her other form. It meant that the barbarian herself wasn't in her true form. But this attraction could only be an infatuation and the arcanist feared she would be reproached if she revealed herself at this time. On the other hand, the arcanist started to approach her younger sister's group of friends. She started to hangout more, to open up. The girls accepted her, even the barbarian she had a major crush for a long time now. When the barbarian admitted she was helplessly in love with the said sister, the arcanist motivated her to confess. The arcanist was waiting for this moment so she could say she loved her back and admit she was the other arcanist she hangs out with. But this moment never came. Instead, the barbarian caught the arcanist in a moment of distraction and discovered everything. She raged about everything and stormed out of the arcanist's chambers. The arcanist was left dumbfounded, when she finally came to her senses, it was too late. Truth be told, the arcanist was already planning a confession as well, but hers was depending on the barbarian one. As nothing went according to plan, she decided to change everything and she was running out of time. Her sister shook her up to the fact  the barbarian probably wouldn't see what she prepared because she was still mad at her. In a desperate act, the arcanist went to convince the barbarian to not ignore her the next time she contacted her. After a rushed act of caring, the arcanist, usually so brave and full of herself, fled the scene. Then she vanished for a lot of days. The arcanist asked a favor here and there; practiced a lot, and made a gift for the barbarian. The mail crew will deliver it for sure, but she relied only on the other girl's willingness to accept it."_

 

The text was accompanied with animated scenes with in-game graphics. Sometimes it even had dialogue balloons. After the last word faded, Hyojin's face appeared on the screen, surprising Solji and her brother. The heavy makeup didn't manage to hide her tired and sorrowful expression. Solji felt a thug on her heart.

 

_"Hello, Choco, or Solji, it's Elly, or Hyojin here. I know I made a mistake. No matter how many times I apologize, it won't ever be enough to make it up to you. I regret not telling you the truth as soon as I realized. I'm sorry. But, hey, wouldn't it be weird to tell you I was the person you're ogling at, right?"_ Hyojin laughed at her own statement. _"I bet you wouldn't believe at first. I like you too, Solji. A lot. Call me cheesy if you want, but I dare say that I love you. And it would make me insanely happy if you become my girlfriend. So, Solji, would you be my girlfriend? I'll be waiting for your answer. See ya!"_ Hyojin waved goodbye and the video was replaced by the game's home menu.

 

Solji blinked a couple of times. She was deeply flustered and at a loss of words. So, Hyojin liked her. Like, really liked her. And now she was sure that brief  butterfly kiss wasn't her hallucination. Maybe Hyojin was right, it would be extremely awkward if she knew they were the same person after her little confession. She chuckled.

 

"Aigo, I didn't know i had such a pretty badass sister-in-law!" Jooseung cooed after seeing the wide smile plastered on his sister's face.

 

"Yah!" Solji started to hit him, blushing. But when she realized the meaning of his words, she hugged him and kissed his cheek. Then she grabbed a hoodie, her keys, her phone and ran towards the front door.

 

"Hey, where are you going?!" Her mother asked her upon seeing her daughter in a rush.

 

"To answer her!" Solji simply replied. The mother was still confused, her son appeared laughing and added.

 

"Leaver her, mom. She is happy and I don't think she will return home today."

 

Solji ran the entire way to the Ahn residence. Despite being in the same neighborhood, it was a good forty minutes of walk. But Solji made it in twenty minutes. Disheveled, sweating and panting, Solji rang the bell. It was almost 10pm. She fidgeted on her legs until a sleepy faced Hani opened the door.

 

"Oh, hello unnie!" Hani opened a smile, giving space to Solji to enter. "She's in her room." Solji looked at her intrigued.

 

"You knew?" Hani laughed.

 

"Of course! Why do you think she always stopped by instead of texting?" Hani waved her hand, answering like it was most obvious thing in the world.

 

Then it hit Solji; all the memories of Hyojin stopping by and finding her in the most weird positions ever. She didn't know it was possible to blush more.

 

"Go on, unnie. I need to go back to my room. And don't be too loud, yes? I need my beauty sleep." The girl smirked.

 

"Ahn Heeyeon!" Solji reprehended her.

 

"Good night!" Hani just laughed and walked back to her room.

 

Solji breathed in and tried to calm her decomposed heart. She walked towards Hyojin's room trying not to shake much. She was so nervous she hesitated a few minutes before knocking on the door three times.

 

"I'm playing, Hani. Comeback another time!" She heard Hyojin reply more annoyed than normal. Solji suppressed a laugh; once again she was mistaken as Heeyeon. She gathered her courage and walked in.

 

"I bet you don't want Hani to hug and kiss you like I want to." Solji played. Upon seeing who entered without her permission, Hyojin's eyes widened and glistened.

 

"Solji! I thought..." More tears rolled from Hyojin's eyes. The sight of a crying Hyojin left Solji off-guarded.

 

"Hey..." Solji called, approaching the girl. Hyojin couldn't hold it anymore. She stretched her eyes and hugged Solji tightly, burring her face on Solji's belly.

 

"You... You're here..." She hiccuped and it sounded muffled. Solji returned the hug and caressed her back.

 

"Yes, I'm here. And I'm going nowhere." Solji soothed her.

 

"I thought you... rejec..." Hyojin sobbed again. Solji then took Hyojin's head between her hands, dried the tears with her palms, and took the hair out of the way.

 

"How can I reject you when you were so cute, dorky and romantic. Besides, you were right." Solji smiled, and leaned down kissing her forehead. "I would totally freak out if you managed to tell me at that time." She then kissed Hyojin's nose. "I'm sorry, but you know what? I love you too and I would love to be your girlfriend." Finally she kissed her on the lips.

 

Happy as she never thought she would be, Hyojin pushed Solji to her lap, who yelped at the sudden movement. Their first-second kiss couldn't have been more perfect.

 

The now official couple laughed, smiled, and kissed a bit more before Hyojin speak to thin air.

 

"Heard that, Soohyunie? I got a girl!" It was a girly squeak that surprised Solji. Only then she realized Hyojin was in the middle of a call when she walked in.

 

"Yah! This is so embarrassing!" Solji exclaimed, turning purple. Not only someone heard her confession, but the person who heard it was her former crush. She stood up and threw herself on Hyojin's messy bed, hiding her face on the pillow. Hyojin's strong smell overwhelmed her. She heard a loud chuckle, then the other girl say goodbye to her friend, and the computer being shut down.

 

Moments later, Solji felt a weight on the mattress and arms circling her waist. Hyojin was spooning cuddling her.

 

"What are you doing?" Her voice was muffled by the pillow.

 

"Cuddling with my girlfriend. Ah, what a nice sentence!" Hyojin answered with her mouth close to Solji's nape.

 

"What about the game?" She knew how the game was important to Elly.

 

"I can play it later." She shrugged. "Besides, I know the main story, since I was the one who wrote it."

 

"What?! How?" Solji was so surprised she turned to face Hyojin. The tip of their noses touched.

 

"I won a contest last year. They wanted ideas for a game expansion and I gave them an awesome one."

 

"Omo, what a humble girlfriend I have." Solji chuckled.

 

"Ah, I like this so much." Hyojin sighed happily and leaned for a kiss, hugging her closer. After the kiss, Solji placed her head on the crook of Hyojin's neck.

 

"I think you need a shower. You're stinking." Solji mumbled.

 

"You're only saying this because  you enjoy the view of me changing." Hyojin mumbled back.

 

"I can't deny that. But really, when was the last time you took a bath?"

 

"I think it was two days ago."

 

"Then you really need to wash up."

 

"But it's so cozy and warm here. I don't want to go."

 

"Sigh. Only this time."

 

"Yay!"

 

With this, Hyojin brought Solji closer and their tiredness took over. It was their best sleep in months.

 

 

END 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it!   
> I even managed to add in my crappy drawings here! I hope whoever read it here, enjoyed the ride.
> 
> As I originally said, I plan a oneshot sequel from Hyojin's side for an uncertain future.
> 
> Thank you <3


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